12 Nov 2024

The PLANTS project: A day in the life

Written by Lucrezia Rossi, PLANTS West Inventory Officer

Two women stand looking at plants, one with a clipboard

PLANTS West Team Inventory Officers Lucrezia and Fran at Malleny Garden

The PLANTS project will be coming to an end in 2025 after successfully completing its aim to audit the plant collections within Trust gardens. Inventory Officer for the PLANTS West Team Lucrezia Rossi has been with the project since day one in 2022. In this blog post she reflects back on her role and shares her experience of this fantastic project.

I joined the Trust as an Inventory Officer for the PLANTS project two and a half years ago, right after completing my biology degree at the University of Aberdeen.

The PLANTS project is the largest initiative undertaken by the Trust so far to audit its plant collections at its major gardens across Scotland. At first, the task seemed monumental, but with teams designated to the North, West and East regions, it felt more manageable. My primary responsibilities have been to inventory the plant collections in the gardens assigned to our team (the West team) and to log them onto the Trust’s plant collections database, IrisBG.

A woman is on her hunkers in front of a row of legs and next to a standing stone.

Lucrezia in the garden at Brodick

Most inventory work happens in summer, while data entry is handled during winter. This past summer, our team visited five gardens: Brodick Castle, Inverewe, Crarae Garden, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Wester Kittochside. Having completed most of the inventory work at Crarae in previous visits, we returned this year to capture spring bulbs and complete a few areas that were left unfinished. Revisits have been necessary for many gardens in our region due to their extensive plant collections that require more than a single visit to catalogue thoroughly. At Inverewe, we helped the North team continue its survey of this expansive garden, while our visits to Robert Burns Birthplace Museum and Wester Kittochside marked our first inventory efforts at these sites.

A woman with a clipboard stands in the middle of a forest.

Before starting any inventory work, we prepare for each audit by familiarising ourselves with any available information on the garden. This might include maps and plant lists already available. These are particularly useful for matching plants on the ground to existing records, helping us ensure more accurate identification. We then conduct a pre-visit to estimate the collection’s size and complexity, determining the time needed for the audit. Indeed, the length of our stays has varied considerably depending on the size of the garden, going from a couple of days to several weeks.

Two women stand in a room and look at notes on a table.

A women stands next to a tree stump in a garden.

For me, the most thrilling part of the job is being on-site. We systematically inventory plants and work to accurately identify each one, often with the help of gardeners. In some gardens, shrubs and trees are tagged or labelled, making identification much easier!

An image of the inventory notes in a log book.

A woman sits on the ground in front of a border garden and makes notes on a clipboard.

Experiencing these gardens is truly remarkable, as you get to enjoy a stunning array of unique and beautiful plants while engaging with the gardeners. Learning from such knowledgeable people has been highly motivating, as has meeting long-time volunteers – some of whom know the gardens better than anyone else! Tea and lunch breaks spent sharing stories with gardeners and volunteers have given me a sense of connection to these places and people, and I’ll carry this with me forever. Saying goodbye to each site is always the most challenging part, but I know I’ll return in the years to come, so it’s never truly a ‘farewell’ but rather a ‘see you again’.

The herbaceous border at the Burns Monument

Our final gardens for the project were at Robert Burns Birthplace Museum (RBBM) and Wester Kittochside, part of the National Museum of Rural Life. We spent two weeks at RBBM, where the garden is beautifully divided into two main areas (one surrounding the monument and museum, and the other one around Burns Cottage), linked by a lovely walkway known as the Poet’s Path. RBBM had very few records of existing plants, so we relied on our botanical knowledge to inventory each plant accurately. I was surprised to find quite a nice variety of conifers, which my very knowledgeable colleague helped me identify. The stunning view onto Brig o’ Doon, often accompanied by the sound of bagpipes from the nearby hotel, made me feel like I was in a fairytale!

A bridge to the side of a garden, surrounded by trees.

An image of Burns Monument through trees and shrubs.

At Wester Kittochside (a working farm) at the National Museum of Rural Life, we completed the inventory work in a single day, as we were only focusing on the garden surrounding the farmhouse. Like RBBM, Wester Kittochside had minimal plant records, so we carried out the inventory from scratch. Although it was a short visit, I thoroughly enjoyed the tranquil atmosphere and the opportunity to see farm animals up close. I would highly recommend a visit for anyone looking for a peaceful day out in the countryside while remaining on Glasgow’s outskirts.

Cows walking through a gate into a yard.

One of my funniest moments during the project happened at Crarae, where, while lying under a rhododendron to check its tag, a large toad jumped on my head! These past years have been unforgettable, and I look forward to returning to these remarkable places.

Lucrezia auditing at Crarae with one of the garden team

Plant Listing at the National Trust for Scotland (PLANTS) is the biggest horticultural audit project undertaken by the Trust and aims to celebrate, protect and better understand the flora and vegetation across our gardens and designed landscapes.